The Calcium Supplement Problem: As Serious As A Heart Attack

December 18, 2014 | By Sayer Ji 

Osteoporosis is not caused by a lack of limestone, oyster shell or bone meal. Heart attack, however, may be caused by supplementation with these exact same “elemental” forms of calcium, according to two meta-analyses published in the British Medical Journal.

Back in July of 2011, the British Medical Journal published the results of a high-powered meta-analysis which looked at whether or not calcium supplementation had any effect on cardiovascular disease risk.  Indeed, this groundbreaking report, which was based on the results of five clinical trials conducted in the US, Britain and New Zealand, involving over 8,000 people, showed that taking elemental calcium supplements of 500 mg or more increased the relative risk of heart attack by 27%.  

ADHD drugs increasingly prescribed to treat hyperactivity in pre-schoolers

A fifth of educational psychologists say they know of children being given medication despite guidelines advising against it

The report found that medication was seen as the main solution in the treatment of ADHD. Photograph: Phototake Inc./Alamy

Sally Weale, education correspondent-Sunday 21 December 2014 

An “alarming” number of pre-school children are being prescribed drugs to treat hyperactivity – contrary to medical guidelines that say they should not be used on children under six – because overstretched health workers go straight to medication rather than offering psychological interventions.
The Calcium Supplement Problem as Serious as a Heart Attack by Thavam Ratna